Wreckfest Review

Boom Crash Opera.

After a generation jam-packed with realistic racers that have made it their mission to teach us to drive clean and race fair, Wreckfest arrives like a sharp but needed kick in the shins. Forget driving etiquette; this is the automotive equivalent of a bar brawl, and it’s absolutely outstanding. Assembled by Finnish destruction racing specialists Bugbear, Wreckfest rekindles the door-slamming spirit of their original FlatOut games and brings it back to life inside the best demolition derby game in over a decade.

Don’t be deceived by Wreckfest’s overt focus on wildly exaggerated, metal-rending mayhem. This isn’t a strictly arcade smash-’em-up carved from the Burnout block; it’s a true successor to the likes of Destruction Derby, the original FlatOut, and the criminally underrated Test Drive: Eve of Destruction (known as Driven to Destruction to those of us outside North America).

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There’s actually a serious driving model beneath all of this over-the-top, elbows-out competition and conquering the cars here requires more than hope and a heavy right foot – you need some genuine skill. A fairly typical array of driving aids is on hand to tone it down a little, but I reckon Wreckfest is at its best when most of them are stripped away and we have to work harder behind the wheel.

Hulking American muscle cars and land yachts squat back on their worn springs and need to be wrestled into heroic Hollywood powerslides and steered on the throttle. Smaller European and Japanese models are nimbler but they’re also lighter, and some are prone to pitching themselves into lethal tankslappers. Some of the cars feel quite similar to each other but overall there are notable differences between the range of body types, from muscle to family wagons, and from sports coupes to front-wheel drive hatchbacks.

Live to race, race what you live in.

The special vehicles are another story altogether, from the top-heavy double-decker cars and rollover-prone schoolbuses to the huge harvester with its distinctive rear-wheel steering. The RV is probably my favourite as, despite its heft and relatively low power, it just loves being whipped sideways into ludicrous drifts. There’s also a motorised couch, which handles a lot better than I’d expected it would (but probably could’ve done with some wheelie bars).

There are significant differences in grip from mud or gravel to tarmac but, with Wreckfest’s well-tuned sense of weight and friction, the handling overall is smashing.

It seems just about every panel and part can be punished, pulverised, or just prised off completely.

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Equally smashing, of course, is the actual smashing, whether you’re careening through trackside objects or mercilessly poleaxing your opposition. Wreckfest’s wonderful soft-body dynamics mean the cars can be bruised, battered, and bent beyond recognition. The level of damage goes well clear of most other driving games; certainly most everything this side of the realistic car-crashing sim Beam.NG Drive, which uses similar soft-body tech. It seems just about every panel and part can be punished, pulverised, or simply prised off completely.

Wreckfest actually has two damage levels you can pick from: normal and realistic. Normal, which makes cars tough but not invincible, is more fun because you can take a few hits and keep going – but I do enjoy the challenge of playing with realistic damage, where just one mistake can see you limping to the finish line missing a wheel. It’s compulsively addictive.

That's not gone well, then.

Debris from collisions is persistent, too, and every new lap lays down more evidence of the high-speed war playing out on track. By the end of a race it’s likely you’ll be wading through a carpet of metal shards, splintered wood, scattered tyres, and shattered concrete. The sheer amount of mess left in the aftermath of races is wild, and yet almost never affects frame rate. I’ve had some bad slowdown on Xbox fighting through a full field of tightly-packed RVs tearing each other to bits but, other than that, it’s been extremely stable.

The AI deserves a special mention as well for giving as good as it takes, and they’re tough but fallible foes. They ruined my races occasionally – but remember, that’s the point. Getting dive-bombed, T-boned, and unloaded in the middle of a drift is all part of the experience and forces us to race defensively and take different lines through corners. Just remember: there’s no penalty for doing the same thing back to them, so have at it.

There’s a level of authenticity to the ovals, dirt tracks, and rallycross circuits here that really suits Wreckfest’s tone as a serious destruction derby game at heart.

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Despite my love for the cult favourite FlatOut Ultimate Carnage, I’m happy Bugbear has opted for a more sanctioned, grassroots motorsport feel here in Wreckfest. There’s a level of authenticity to the ovals, dirt tracks, and rallycross circuits here that really suits Wreckfest’s tone as a serious destruction derby game at heart. There’s still plenty of wild stuff, though – like an insanely dangerous loop-the-loop track, deadly figure-8s, courses that double back on themselves, and derby bowls that are basically skate parks for cars.

This outrageous loop is some of the best fun in the game.

That credibility extends to the cars, too, which are some of the coolest vehicles I’ve seen in a racing game. Each has been meticulously detailed to look like a hand-painted, hastily-welded rust bucket and – while they’re not licensed – gearheads are sure to recognise a classic Volvo 240 Estate, a Honda CR-X, or a MkI Escort when they see them. They all sound as cool as they look, too, from the grumble of a 50-year-old V8 to the buzz of an angry inline-four.

There are a ton of great visual customisation options and liveries available, though Wreckfest is definitely screaming for some kind of rudimentary paint editor where we can spray on our own numbers and messages. Performance tuning is included, too, but it’s a bit disappointing Bugbear opted to ape the Forza and Need for Speed approach with clean and sterile upgrade menus that are in conflict with the grungy junkyard spirit we’re bathed in everywhere else. It’s also a bit annoying that you can’t save and quickly apply different set-ups for cars – like an armoured-up battle-ready beast for derby events and a stripped-down speedster for race events. There’s no cost to reapply owned upgrades but it’s a bit of unnecessary dicking about.

There are plenty of premade events in Wreckfest but, while Bugbear has been patient in rationing out its tracks throughout the five tiers of career races, the event types do get a little repetitive. Online multiplayer is on hand to stretch out that lifespan, but I expect I’ll get more value out of the event editor. See if you can last 20 laps against two dozen buses on a lawnmower!

Verdict

Wreckfest is the long-overdue return of serious, high-quality destruction racing and, in that admittedly slim niche, it’s the king of the crop. It lacks a little spark off the track but out in the thick of it it’s some of the most frantic fun you can have on four wheels. I play plenty of serious racers, but sometimes it’s nice to toss the rulebook into the back seat and get out in the mud and trade some paint.